In front of his home in Coleraine in western Victoria, Anthony Boulder has set up a donation box for canned groceries because things are getting desperate in his small town, and he remembers what that feels like.
Mr Boulder recalls waiting for the Salvation Army grocery box that would arrive each week to feed him and his five siblings.
"I was one of those young fellows who grew up in a privileged way when I was very young," Mr Boulder said.
"Then things changed and I ended up with Mum, she was a single mum with six kids.
"The Salvation Army used to feed us every week.
'We need food'
When Anthony Boulder reached out to Mark Thomas at the Hamilton Salvation Army six weeks ago to see how he could help, the answer was clear.
Mr Boulder immediately set up two donation boxes, one in his driveway and one at the Coleraine IGA supermarket, and donations have been flowing in.
"There was quite a full box in the driveway last week, which was quite humbling, and I went to the supermarket that night and that box was actually overflowing," he said.
More families go hungry
As the community development worker with the Salvation Army, every week Mark Thomas is on the road delivering food hampers throughout Coleraine, Casterton and Hamilton.
"I pick up food from Food Share in Warrnambool and deliver it to 30 households a week, I've got about 100 people on the books," he said.
Mr Thomas is worried about what he sees on the road.
He said since the pandemic began, the number of families in need of food hampers has quadrupled.
"I could easily be delivering 40 only I haven't got the time, or the food."
He said that Hamilton's Wednesday night community meal has also doubled from 30 to 60 people attending each week.
$80 a fortnight to feed a family
Mr Boulder has heard about the lives of the people that he delivers food hampers to, who have told him the basic costs of living in western Victoria were now simply too high.
"The cost of rent has gone up, and fuel prices have hit hard, and food prices have made it worse," Mr Boulder said.
"And living costs, food prices are higher in Coleraine.
"That's to feed a family, maybe a family of four."
Coleraine is 334 kilometres from Melbourne, more than a four-and-a-half hour drive, but residents can access larger supermarkets in Hamilton, about 30 minutes away, if they can justify the fuel cost.
Metro donations dwindle
Meanwhile, in recent months, Mr Thomas said critical donations from the city have been dwindling, leaving the Salvation Army to rely more heavily on local food donations.
"If it wasn't for Food Share, we'd be stuffed," he said.
Mr Thomas said that in the past year there has also been a big drop-off in donations that previously came from Salvation Army headquarters in Melbourne, where he says the big donations from large companies are collected and then distributed out to the regions.
"Twelve months ago we'd been able to get $3.000 worth of stuff a week, now we're down to $800 a week," he said.
ABC South West Victoria contacted Salvation Army in Melbourne but did not receive a reply.
Mr Thomas said despite these trends, locals still helped out however they could.
"Probably once a month somebody drops off a sizeable donation of food," he said.
"People have donated sides of lamb that they get killed, yeah all sorts of stuff.
"People in Hamilton know that we do feed a lot of people."
